Toot toot.... that's my own horn right there....

enough of the ellipses..........

So, I'm on a bit of a cooking swerve.

I realized the other night as I was putting together dinner that I am comfortable in the kitchen. I don't know how it happened or when, but it did.

I'm ok with experimenting. I love recipes, but I know what to substitute if I don't have everything and I consider them a jumping off point. My cutting skills have improved and I have just kind of found my way. I remember when I first moved out, cooking was a debacle night after night.

I called my mom more often than not, and recipes were something I clung to for dear life.

Some recent successes:
- Beef with peapod stirfry
- Cherry crumble muffins
- an amazing lasagna
- Sweet and Sour Shrimp (in little pineapple boats!!)
- oh and some fabulous fajitas

I wish I had photos of all of these things, but the lighting in our kitchen and dining room is horrid at best, and I rarely cook during the day. Someday when that box arrives with my two new lenses, my slave flash, my bounce, I'll be ready. I want to join the ranks of the amazing blogs I read that feature yummmmmy food photos.

Notes from the Cookie Jar and Smitten Kitchen to name my current favorites.

Tonight was bison chili, but I admit it was from a bag. But absolutely delicious.

We're in the money..

Ok. We're not. I just wanted to sing that little ditty.

We're on a pretty strict budget to overcome some of our past issues, bad decisions and bad fortune. We're working to be debt free, and man oh man I want to be a home owner again sometime in this decade. Most of the time I'm OK with it. Sometimes (like Em's birthday coming up here) it kind of sucks to be broke.

One area where I have become sort of a pro is eating well on a budget. I try to keep our grocery bill at $300 or under for the month, sometimes we're looking at $200 but that's rare.

People ask me often how I feed the 5 of us on that budget and still manage to put healthy, decent meals on the table. Occasionally some really nice ones.

I decided to work on these ideas and share them here. I would also love to hear your recipes for fast and/or inexpensive and/or easy and/or healthy food and any tips you have on saving money at the grocery store.

So what are some of your family favorites?